Everybody's Changing
by hollowpaths
Summary: As she deals with her injured knee, Emily must face the unfinished business she has with Hunter. Meanwhile, Richelle tries to overcome her crush on Noah. Start at 3x03 "Secrets" and differs slightly from the original story.
1. All Those Friendly People

**Everybody's Changing**

 _She was okay. She was okay. She was okay_ , she repeated herself as Kate shouted angrily at her. She closed her eyes for a moment. God, could she be more humiliated?

"I'm sorry, but we can risk it" Kate finished. "You can't compete for the Next Step"

Emily stood still for a moment, trying to repress the anger. How can they do that to her, when she had sacrificed everything for the studio? She turned back slowly to look at her sister who looked completely mortified.

"Thank you", Emily said.

She hoped that the others didn't notice the shaking in her voice. Riley couldn't respond and Emily huffed. Riley never could take responsibility for the consequences of her actions. Without adding another word, without looking at her old team, she stormed out. If she would just glance at them, she knew she would break.

She got to the locker-room to change clothes. She tried to control the shaking of her hands. She couldn't even believe that Riley told Kate. Wait, on a second thought, that was totally like her. What she couldn't believe was that Stephanie told Riley. She thought she could trust her. That was the reason she picked her to go with to the doctor. Stephanie always had been on her side, she had even considered the fact that she could betray her like this.

She should have picked someone else. Someone she had never doubted and he had never doubted her, even in the worst moments. When she took the role to bring Amanda down, he was the only one who stood beside her until that awful day at Culture Shock.

Emily closed her eyes one more time and swallowed. She couldn't afford to think of him that way. Not anymore, now she had broken things – terribly, horribly – with him. Hunter was in her past now, and she needed to accept that. She took her bag and made her way to studio B. She knew what she had to do. She would lie if she said that she hadn't thought about who would replace her. That had been keeping her awake at night. Her choice was almost too obvious for someone who knew her, but she was certain that the dancer she chose was perfect. Even if she didn't make the team, it would be a great experience for her. But come on, Richelle was the best dancer in J Troupe, without a doubt, and better than most of the B Troupe dancers. So, Emily made her decision. And now that she was out of A Troupe, she had to act on it.

Inside, J Troupe was warming up. Emily scanned the room until she found the now-brunette she was looking for. She was standing next to Noah and was glancing at him now and then, a little smile on her face. When Richelle noticed her, her smile faded a little and stopped the exercise. She approached her:

"Hey Emily, what's going on?"

"I didn't mean to interrupt you. Could you come to Hidalgo's when the rehearsing is over? I have something for you."

Richelle frowned a little.

"Can't you just tell me now?" the little dancer asked.

"No" Emily answered with a smile. "After your rehearsing, without all J Troupe around"

Richelle grumbled something about not wanting to wait, but she went back at her place and went on with her warm-up. Emily smiled. That was the only good thing to come out of this situation. Even if Richelle was arrogant and somewhat hypocrite, she was a very good dancer and she deserved a chance to get in A Troupe. The blonde waved at the others dancers and walked to the elevator. She would have taken the stairs, but now that the truth had come out, it was useless to pretend.

A heavy sigh came out of her lips and she tightened her fingers around the bag. Now, she was to supposed wait until Riley finished. Until A Troupe was recomposed. A part of her was happy that The Next Step had to compete against Elite. It was comforting her, even if she knew that was pitiful. She shouldn't feel that way about her old team. It was immature. She could almost hear her mother saying in her ear to grow up. But she was eighteen, and she wasn't an adult yet. So, Emily decided that it was okay to feel this way for a little while.

"You okay?"

The voice made her shudder and she didn't react right away. Hunter. She had successfully avoided him until now. At first, they were all too busy to win Nationals so that had been pretty easy. But after that… That had been a totally different story. Emily always had found someone to save her before he could approach her. Sometimes it was Riley, but most of the time it had been West. But as she glanced around the room, she realized that this time, no one was here to save her. So she turned and faced him, putting her best smile on her face. She saw his eyes, warm and full of concern and she felt her heart starting to race in her chest.

"Yeah, of course" she responded. "Why you're asking?"

"Kate has been pretty rough with you. I just wanted to check on you", he shrugged.

His eyes betrayed the tone of his voice, she noticed. His hands were deep into his sweatpants' pockets and he looked relaxed. He raised his eyebrows. She swore silently. He always read her too well for her own taste.

"You know I can tell you're lying, right?"

"I'm not lying!" she snapped a little too quickly.

He smirked and Emily felt the heat rising to her cheeks. God blame his cockiness. He made one step closer to her, all serious suddenly, and for a moment, it looked like he was about to take her hand in his. Her breath got stuck in her throat and her smile faded. But he didn't do anything and Emily forced herself to breathe again.

"Look, you're sure you're okay?"

"Hunter, I promise you I'm fine."

He sighed and his head popped down. Emily bit her inferior lip. He wasn't going to believe her, not matter what she was going to say. The smile she made wasn't happy at all, but she did her best.

"Look, you don't have to worry about me" she tried to reason him. "You have a big competition tomorrow, you should focus on that."

He tilted his head to the side and she could see his eyes sparkling. Of course he didn't focus on tomorrow. His confidence flirted with arrogance, just like hers. She sighed and before she could add anything else, a sound came out of the elevator and the doors opened. She quickly got inside and turned back to watch him. Hunter seemed wanting to go in but he did nothing. He just stared at her and he looked a little pissed. The girl pressed the button and watched the doors close. When it started to go down, she leaned herself against the metal wall. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. Goddamn it Hunter, she was supposed to focus on her injured knee, get through the reeducation and start dancing again, not on Hunter and his half-crooked smile he did when he was nervous. They were thrown the moment she chose the team over him.

She had wondered if she had done the right thing a lot of time since. What happened earlier in studio A earlier was just a reminder that maybe the team didn't need her as much as she thought. She walked up in Hidalgo's and sat down on the couch. She took her tablet from her bag, sand started to look for something to do. She had four hours to kill until she could go home with her traitor of sister.

There were a stretch-up, a compilation of the best solo she ever watched. Only things that she used for dancing, nothing else.

And now, her career was kaput.


	2. Heart That's Pounding

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own anything. It's just my take on season 3, just to correct the fact that Huntmily isn't endgame.

* * *

Richelle's emotional state was as stable as a roller-coaster, everyone knew that. Yet, she felt like nothing could bum her down today. She had been so ecstatic when Emily and Kate agreed that she could compete for a place in A-Troupe that she hugged them. That was the chance of the year and she was glad that Kate finally changed her mind. Emily had probably have something to do with it, so she promised herself that she would thank her once again when she will be on A Troupe.

She had been running everywhere, trying to catch a glimpse of Noah to tell him the good – no, fantastic – news. How great it will be that she would go to Internationals with him! They had started almost the same year at The Next Step and grew up as dance partners. She liked being with, maybe more than she would admit, and surely more than she would tell him.

She found him stretching up in Studio A with the others members of A Troupe. That was so weird; to say that maybe tomorrow she would be part of them. She had wanting this for so long now. She was one step closer to be A Troupe dance captain. She was one step closer to reach her goal.

As she made her way up to Noah, he looked at her curiously. She waved, trying to suppress the grin on her face.

"Hey, Richelle. You're here to watch this challenge?"

He looked at her with these big bright eyes of his, and the girl thought that she would probably never get tired of it. Richelle tilted her head to the side, and this time she let the smile enlighten her face.

"More like participate" He stared at her wide-eyed, and she explained. "Emily can't compete, so she's leaving me her spot."

"Oh, that's great! For you, I mean. Because Emily must feel pretty bad right now."

She held back a chuckle, and thanked him. Instinctively, she hugged him and she could feel him put one of his hands at her lower back. When she pulled back, Noah smiled kindly and she felt her heart beat just a little faster than before. She smiled back and started stretching up. She needed to be ready to compete against Elite. Or The Next Step, she reminded herself. She could battle one of the current A Troupe members. She scanned the room. Most of them were almost finished with the warm-up. She started to do the same when the members of Elite came into the room like they owned it. She restrained the growl that she wanted to make. There was no chance that she let Lucien take control of the studio.

She furrowed her eyebrows when she caught the sight of Daniel among the dancers. She didn't know he joined Elite, but anyway it was bad news. She always admired him - after all, he was a phenomenal dancer – but she didn't trust him. Not after what he put the studio through. Instinctively, she moved to let the dancers take place in the room. Lucien followed soon after, a remote in hand. He pressed a button and music started playing through the speakers. Richelle crossed her arms under her chest. She was not let herself be impressed by some show of force. They were trying to throw them out of their balance, but there were no way they would succeed. She turned the head to watch a dark-skinned boy lift the long-legged girl like she weighed as much as a paperweight. She recognized him: he was one of the runner-ups for National male soloist. However, she couldn't find his name. She remembered finding him strong. He seemed way stronger in reality and she tried to act not too impressed. She felt Noah shift closer to her. He leaned towards her and whispered:

"That's impressive."

He was starting to get nervous, she could tell. She glanced at him, hoping that her cheeks weren't too red. The closeness between the two of them was much a delight as it was a torture. She should focus on getting on A Troupe, but she couldn't keep her mind of him and she didn't know why. He was shifting his weight from one leg to another, and his eyes followed the movement when the boy put the girl down.

"Yes." she agreed with a nod. "He is strong. Both physically and technically."

"I'm talking of the girl. Look at her legs."

Richelle frowned and looked frankly at him. Why would he care so much about this girl's legs? The legs didn't make the dancer. Hard work, coordination, strength did. She stared back at the girl and watched her as she lifted her right leg up. Yes, she was graceful, and her legs were beautiful. But that didn't make her A Troupe material. That didn't even make her Next Step material.

Richelle shook her head. She was losing focus. If she wanted to get in, she shouldn't torture herself about Noah's comment. He was a dork and that probably meant nothing anyway. Still, when Elite's team made the final position, she kind of hoped that she would battle this long-legged girl. Just to see who was the better dancer; this had nothing to do with Noah sudden interest in her. Not at all. As she moved to get to the other side of the room, she quickly summarized every dancer, splitting them into two categories: the ones she could take easily and the ones that would need a little more effort. When she got to Hunter, she hesitated. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't want to go against him. His style was very different from hers. There were as similar as fire and ice were. The fact was that The Next Step and Elite had acro dancers, but she wasn't sure that there was a dancer that could pull off any of his tricks. He added versatility and versatility was important, especially if they wanted to win Internationals this year. But today, he seemed absent, like his mind wandered somewhere far away from studio A. Maybe she could battle him and win. So, she decided to put him in the first category. She joined Giselle, Amanda and Thalia and started to talk to them. She liked Giselle a lot, she was nice. Just like Thalia. But she didn't trust Amanda. One good action didn't make her a good person. But if she was going to see her every day, Richelle was ready to do some effort.

Lucien, Phoebe and Kate soon joined them and they explained the rules. One against one, and everybody voted objectively. Richelle could win, as long as she didn't have to battle Eldon, Giselle, Daniel or that tanned boy from Elite. Phoebe took a piece of paper and read the name on it.

"Hunter."

Richelle turned her head to watch him snap back at reality. Immediately, he put a confident face and trotted past them to take a paper. He read the paper and his smile faded. He raised the head and said, voice blank:

"Eldon"

Elite team burst into laughter and Richelle wanted to punch them all in the face. She didn't listen what Kate said and instead stood there, thinking intensely. Good news, she didn't have to battle Eldon. Bad news, she couldn't battle Hunter. The two talked about who was going to prepare where and Hunter decided to take the music room. Eldon was lucky. It was obvious that Hunter wasn't fully in. Something was off. And there was only one thing that interested Richelle almost more than dancing. It was knowing everything. She couldn't dance, so she was going to figure out what was going on.

First place to go, Hidalgo's. Most of dancers would be there since there were nothing much to do until this first dance battle, which meant plenty of conversations to listen to. She smiled to herself and walked to the shop.

Inside, she found Emily on her tablet. And it hit her. There was something between the blonde and Hunter, she was sure of it. They had dated and then broke up because of the whole Amanda thing. Richelle made her way up to her.

"Hey, Emily. What are you doing here?"

Her head popped up as Richelle sat next to her.

"Hi, Richelle. Shouldn't you be in studio A for the competition?"

At the tone of her voice, Richelle took the hint. Emily didn't want her here. But she ignored it. She was going to get to the bottom of this.

"Yeah, the first two are preparing their solos so we have an hour to kill", she answered with a slight smirk. "You should come see it. Hunter versus Eldon. That will be a tough game."

"Hunter versus Eldon?"

Her voice shook with disbelief, and Richelle could see her shoulders sag slightly. The brunette leaned against the couch and her eyes narrowed as Emily tried to maintain her composure.

"What's wrong?" she asked innocently.

Emily looked at her, almost angry.

"Come on, Richelle. Hunter is a great dancer but he is no match against Eldon. He could win only if anxiety gains the best of Eldon!"

She stopped suddenly, realizing how loud her voice was. She shot a warning look at customers who was looking curiously at her. Richelle's smirk grew bigger. She was right.

She was right most of the time, anyway.

"You still care about him." she stated as a matter of fact.

Emily glared at her and the petite dancer could almost sense her aura turning black. She had to be careful.

"I do not." she snapped.

Richelle stopped smiling, crossed her legs. That would be harder that she thought. But it wasn't like she was going to give up. She needed entertainment.

"You do" she thwarted. Emily shot her warning glare but that wouldn't be enough to scare her. "You still care about him, and I'm sure he's not in his right mind because he is sick worry about you."

Emily stayed silent, surely shocked by the words that were coming out of her mouth, but Richelle continued.

"You know, I don't know why you two didn't get back together after Amanda's plan went public."

Emily stood abruptly.

"I have no reason to talk about it with you." she growled.

"You see anyone else you can talk about it?"

Richelle bit her lip, and paled. She had taken this too far this time. She stood up too, joined her hands in a nervous way.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I'm really sorry."

Emily didn't say anything for a while. Then she sat down, shaking. Richelle did the same, her throat suddenly dry. Emily was breaking. Her role model was breaking in front of her and she didn't what to do.

"It's okay" the blonde said quietly. "It's just… What am I supposed to say? I'm not a touchy-feely person. I'm practical."

Richelle nodded but didn't say anything. On this point, Emily and she were identical. They were nothing more important than the team, the dance, the competition. But Emily had lost all of that and she was a complete mess.

"Maybe you need to start dealing with these emotions of yours."

"Maybe."

Richelle sighed. She wasn't going to know anything until Emily and Hunter sorted it out, but at the moment, she didn't care. Emily well-being was a little more important than some gossip.

"Go talk to him." she said trying to put authority in her voice.

"What?"

Emily looked at her incredulously.

"Advice from a future dance captain to an old one: sometimes it's not good to let your feelings all bottle up. Sooner or later, it will explode."

Emily looked at her ivory hands.

"I'm scared." she admitted.

"Everyone is. Go or I will."

Richelle stood up and started walking out of Hidalgo's. If she didn't listen to advice, maybe she would listen to threats. She heard Emily get up and trying to catch up with her. She slowed down, just to allow Emily to catch up. She was walking slower due to her knee and it hurt inside to know that maybe her model won't be able to dance as well as before.

"You are not talking to him. I swear to you I'll cut you." she threatened in a low voice.

Richelle tried to not look too glad. _That_ was the dance-captain-Emily she knew. Instead, she raised her eyebrows and waited. She waited it seemed forever, until Emily rolled her eyes in frustration.

"Fine. I'll do it!"

The blonde walked past her and Richelle grinned. She had accomplished something big, and soon, she would learn all the juicy stuff she thrived. She turned and her heels and met Noah's sparkling eyes. He was at the other side of the coffee shop and was waving at her. She waved back and made her way up to him, ignoring her pounding heart.

Maybe one day she would listen to her own advice.


	3. Talk to Me

**Disclaimer :** I don't own anything. It's just my take on season 3 to change the fact that Huntmily isn't endgame.  
Thanks for the kind reviews. This is the first time I write in English, so this means the world to me. Also, don't be afraid to tell me if there any grammar mistakes. I want to improve. Also, sorry for the late update. I'm trying to become in speech therapist and in France, it's really hard to get into the school. So I worked very hard.

* * *

Emily stood in front of the music room door. She hadn't touched the doorknob yet. She was seriously considering running away. So she stood still, trying to do something, anything.

The fact that he first kissed her in this very room didn't help. After all, she didn't want to ruin one of the few memories that were left intact. She remembered it vividly: the way he looked at her – intensely, yet waiting for permission – had made her stomach knot with butterflies. She had allowed him with subtle words, but he had understood. A second had passed by without any of them moving, and then he had cupped her neck with his warm, warm hand and crashed his lips down on hers. Even now, her heart was pounding at the memory. After all, it was the best first kiss she had ever had. With Eldon, it had been all sad and sloppy. With West, it had been a quick surprising peck. It wasn't bad, but it didn't make her insides melt either. They hurt, to be honest, because when West turned back to celebrate with the other A-troupers she noticed Hunter within few foot away from her, watching her. His smile was gone. He had turned away from her to celebrate with their friends and ignored her completely. And she, because she was proud, ignored her crumbling heart and didn't stop smiling.

Emily shook her head. She was here now, and she was going to face him. She always have thought that if they talked, it would end terribly. That he would accused her to have played with him, to haven't trust him enough to help her with bringing down Amanda, even though all she had wanted to do was protecting him. But, she wasn't a coward. So she opened the door, and quickly slipped inside. Hunter was there, just like Richelle told her, working on his solo. He didn't notice her right away, so she decided to let him finish. She leaned against the wall, trying to release the pressure she was putting on her knee, and studied him. She had almost forgotten how much she loved the way he moved. However, his movements weren't as sharp and precise as usual. She recognized the song "Straight to the Top" blasting through the speakers. It was a smart choice. He pulled a head Hunter and stopped right in front of her. His chest was rising and falling rapidly, sweat was covering his skin. He stared at her, not saying anything. Was she supposed to go first? The idea was making Emily felt suddenly nervous.

"What are you doing here? I have a solo to work on", he snapped.

The blonde tried to not look too affected. After all, she was the one who hadn't wanted to talk yesterday. And yet, here she was, twenty-four hours later.

"I heard about the battle."

But she wasn't able to say anything else. Somehow, her mind was completely blank. She looked to the floor for one second before looking into his eyes. He stared back, and took a step back, away from her.

"I don't need your help, Emily. I'm okay. You don't have to worry about me."

She rolled her eyes -him echoing her words was somewhat low- and snapped her tongue but something inside her fell apart. Hearing him call her Emily was somewhat hurtful. She had been used to be Ems to him. Emily sounded awfully formal, as if nothing never had happened between them. As if they never were friends. To be honest, at this exact moment, they weren't friends. They were more like strangers to each other. It was an odd feeling, considering their history. They had went to complete strangers to scheming partners in a matter of hours. Then to scheming partners to friends in a couple of days. And so on until the kiss, like the outcome of an police movie. But now, here they were.

Maybe it was simply another case to resolve.

«It's going to be hard, you know… and I just want-»

«You think I don't know what is at stakes here ? " his eyes were shining with exasperation. "Believe me, I know. I know."

He burried his face in his hands. Emily nipped her lips. Richelle was right. Hunter seemed overwhelmed. It seemed that she made it worst for him. He didn't have to deal with her. Not right now, anyway. She couldn't impose him that right now. One thing at a time.

"Do your best. At worst, you'll be demoted into B-Troup, but I'm sure A-Troup will get you back in a matter of weeks. They will not give you up like that."

She stopped talking when she noticed his smile. But it wasn't the playful smirk, nor the nervous smile nor the overjoyed one. It was the one she had seen only once. At Culture Shock, when she had broken things with him. It was a small, sad, full with disbelief smile.

"If I lose, I'm not being demoted to B-Troup." His voice was weak, quiet, and he stared at the floor. "I thought Riley told you."

The blonde felt suddendly cold. Her breathing was fast, nervous.

"Told me what?"

"The project my mom was working on, you know the one that had made her transfered? It's done. So they offered her to go back to Madison. Dylan miss his friends, my dad didn't find a job here." Emily closed her eyes since she couldn't close her ears. "If I haven't a good enough reason to make the family stay here, I'm going back to Wisconsin."

His voice broke at the last words, such as her heart.

"So, if you lose this battle, you're leaving town."

"Yeah."

They stayed silent. If he lose, it meant she wasn't going to see him. She was trying to say herself that it was a good thing. It meant that it would be easier for her to move on. But it also meant she was going to miss even more. She didn't know what hurt more.

"Do your best." Her voice sounded harsh and she repeated herself, but she didn't care. "You have won once, you could do it again. Please."

 _Please, do it for me,_ she wanted to say. But she didn't, because she never did good with words. And he didn't have to do anything for her and she couldn't be selfish. She never had been selfish with him, and she would not start now. When she had realized her feelings for him, she didn't act on it because she didn't want to come between him and what he wanted. So she stared at him with her pleading eyes.

"I'll promise," he agreed with a small nod.

She smiled, with as much as joy as the one he had done before. She steadied herself, ignoring the pain in her knee. Right now, her physical pain was nothing compare to her emotional one.

"Maybe I should go."

"Yeah, you should."

She made her way to the door, her pain slowing her down. As she put her hand on the doorknob, Hunter stopped her.

"Emily, wait." She turned to face him, surprised and he bit his lip before continuing. "I need to know one thing."

She waited. He didn't come closer, but instead he stayed silent. He was trying to find the best words to ask her. Whatever he wanted to ask her. That wasn't like him at all, so Emily guessed that what he was going to ask her mattered to him. It mattered a lot.

"Did you like it? When West kissed you, when we won Nationals. I just want to know the truth."

She opened her mouth but no sound came out. Her heart was racing in her chest and she thought for a moment that she was going to explode, right here, right there. If he was asking her that, it meant he still cared. It wasn't just an act to then yelled at her because she had ruined everything: he wasn't that despicable. She shook her head to come back to reality. He was waiting, growing more and more anxious by the lack of answer. She took a deep breathe. Now was the time. And she wasn't a coward, was she?

"Not really" she answered. "Not at all, actually. Hm, I should let you work."

He nodded and she fled, because she didn't want him to see her cheeks red. But as she closed the door behind herself, she could swear that he was smiling.

She receded and stopped right there, in the middle of the hallway. She needed to catch her breathe. Her heart was still pounding like she had just ran two marathons. She still liked him, she couldn't deny it anymore. But she had to reason herself. Even if he had still some feelings for her, their feelings didn't matter if he lose the dance battle. He would be leaving town. He would be leaving everyone and go back to his old life.

God, she never hated Madison, Wisconsin as much as she did right now.

There was one day when she had been feeling as torn as today. It had been the moment when she had realizing her feelings for him. It wasn't the moment where he had kiss her in the music room. It wasn't the moment where he danced with her in the costume closet, and got into the deep and she couldn't help but laugh like anything else mattered. It wasn't the moment where he had said that anything was her fault and all was Eldon's, in the costume closet. It wasn't the moment where she fell _literally_ on him and she almost kissed him. It wasn't when he surprised her by spinning her around and getting her into the deep only to make Michelle jealous. It was after J-Troupe audition, when they were cleaning Studio A. She had received an SNS text – this "sister needs sisters" acronym that she had come up with when she was ten - from Riley, so she left. But before, she had hugged Hunter, not knowing Michelle was spying on them. She hadn't know why she was doing it, but she had known that it felt just _right_ and that she could stay there and be happy and safe and warm. She remembered stopping in the middle of the corridor, realizing what she had just done, realizing what she had just felt. In the first few seconds, she had been ecstatic, because she knew that Hunter was better than Eldon in everything, but then she remembered the scheme they had planned had been for him and Michelle to get back together and for Emily and Eldon to do the same. She had gulped, she had shaken her head trying to repress her feelings building inside of her.

She wasn't very good at this. Maybe she wasn't as practical as she thought she was.

What was Richelle's advice again? _It's not good to let your feelings all bottled up. Sooner or later, it will explode._ The brunette was four years younger than her, yet twenty years wiser. A part of her wanted to rush at Hidalgo's to scream at her because this talk with Hunter made things more complicated. But she knew deep down that Richelle didn't have anything to do in that. She just rushed it, because it would have happened sooner or later. She imagined if she hadn't known about this and Hunter had left without so much as a goodbye. She imagined coming to the studio to pick Riley and ask – out of curiosity and nothing else, would she assured her younger sister- about Hunter. And Riley, her eyes full with unease, would tell that he went back to Madison. That would have been a thousand times worse, if she was being honest.

As she was heading back to Hidalgo's, Emily noticed Kate, Phoebe and Lucien in the office. She almost paled at the sign of the man. _Almost_. She still remembered what he putted her through. How humiliated she had felt when she had discovered his plan. She hated him as much as the little girl inside of her was scared of him. She decided to go talk to Miss Kate and he wasn't going to stop her. An idea had started to form in her mind. It wasn't evil or manipulating or plain mean but she was doing it for very, very selfish purpose, she knew that. She just hoped that if it worked, Hunter wouldn't hate her.

"Miss Kate? Can I talk to you for a minute, please?" she asked entering the office without knocking.

"Sure, Emily, but if this is about earl-"

"It's not", cut the blonde with a smile. She then turned to Lucien and her smile became somewhat threatening. "It's Next Step business, so you should head out."

She didn't bother to be polite. He wasn't worth of any politeness. Miss Kate nodded and directed him to the door. He did so, but not before throwing Emily a cold look that made her shiver. She repressed it and instead turn to miss Kate.

"I have a proposition for you" she announced proudly.

After her talk with Hunter, she had realized that she wanted to make things work with him. She was done running away. Now was time to face him.

But she couldn't do it if he left, right?


End file.
